Tick Tock
by Heavenly Pearl
Summary: A birthday present from Michiru drives the time guardian cuckoo. Written in honor of Setsuna's birthday.


Tick Tock

Birthdays for the time guardian had long lost their usual significance. When one lived for as many years as she, a person tended to, in fact, regard the anniversary of their birth as simply another day in the course of their life. Nothing special, nothing extraordinary. Truth be told, she doubt she would be able to honestly tell any person who asked exactly how old she was. She had lost count sometime during the Renaissance.

So, when Meioh Setsuna, also known as Sailor Pluto, the beautiful guardian of time, awoke on the morning of October 29th, there were no excited shouts of glee or jumps of joy as she stretched and climbed out of bed, slipping her feet into a pair of comfy velvet slippers. Instead, she pulled a robe over the silk burgundy nightgown she wore and sleepily dragged herself to the bathroom to begin her regular morning routine.

The harshness of sudden light burned her garnet eyes when she flipped the switch by the bathroom door, but her sight quickly grew accustomed to the brightness. Setsuna turned on the faucet and let the water run as she studied her face in the mirror, searching for any signs of wrinkles. Even a time guardian couldn't be too careful when it came to aging, but her lips curled in a tiny smile, satisfied with what she saw in her reflection. Nobody could deny that she did look remarkably well for her age, whatever it was.

Setsuna went through the rest of her usual routine with her normal thoroughness and dressed herself in her favorite wine-hued sweater and a pair of black hip-huggers. The look was completed with a pair of garnet studs and just the barest hint of gloss on her lips. By the time she was finished getting ready, the sweet aroma of freshly brewed coffee tickled her nose from the kitchen, where no doubt the rest of her untraditional family was already sitting down for breakfast. With one more look at her reflection in the mirror, Setsuna headed downstairs for breakfast.

The green-haired woman inwardly groaned as she opened the door to the kitchen and found her friends sitting at the table, surrounded by a small stack of gifts and about a dozen balloons of all shapes and colors attached to the back of each of their chairs. A cake, covered with gooey chocolate icing and star-shaped sprinkles, sat in front of her usual chair and was illuminated by as many candles as Michiru could fit on the bunt style treat.

Oh, great. They had decided to throw her a birthday party. Hadn't she made it very clear last night that she didn't want them to make a big deal about her birthday? It was just another day.

Still, she smiled politely and sat down to a chorus of that infernal "Birthday Song", Michiru providing accompaniment on her ever-present violin. The beauty of her playing only served to highlight just how bad Haruka and Hotaru were as singers. Those two made the sound of nails running across a chalkboard seem like Mozart.

_Happy birthday to you,  
__Happy birthday to you,  
__Happy birthday, dear Setsuna…  
__Happy birthday to you!_

"And many, many, many, many, many, many more," the blonde shouted at the top of her lungs, wiggling her fingers in the style of a jazz dancer. Michiru shot her lover a nasty look, but Haruka just grinned impishly.

"Ha, ha! Very funny, Haruka," Setsuna replied sarcastically, though she smiled to show there were no hard feelings. After living with the rest of the Outers for the last few months, she was used to Haruka's wicked sense of humor.

"So, how old is the time guardian today?" Haruka asked. "A thousand? Two thousand? A million?"

"Would you believe twenty-one?"

"Nope."

"Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it," she said, helping their adorable adopted daughter on her lap. Hotaru's dark violet eyes were open wide at the sight of the delicious cake sitting in front of her. "Besides, didn't anyone ever tell you it's impolite to ask a woman her age?"

"Apparently not," the aqua-haired beauty answered, playfully swatting her partner on the arm. "Tack has never been Haruka's strong point."

The blonde pouted. "Hey, I resent that."

A tug on Setsuna's long hunter green tresses, half pulled back into a small bun at the top of her head, caused her to look down at the deceptively young child sitting on her lap. Hotaru pointed at the still lit candles, her little tummy growling. "Setsuna-mama, you have to make a wish and blow out the candles," she ordered. "It's the law."

The trio of adults laughed at the child's impatience. Somebody sure was hungry. Setsuna affectionately ruffled Hotaru's dark raven hair and kissed her cheek. "Okay, okay, Hotaru-chan," she said. "I guess I have to, since it _is _the law. You want to help me blow out all these candles?"

The little girl nodded, taking in a huge breath. Her tiny cheeks puffed out, making her look like one of those blowfish they saw at the aquarium last weekend. Setsuna drew in some air too and then the two started blowing until each and every candle was extinguished.

Or so they thought. A few seconds after they finished and everybody started clapping, one of the candles suddenly flared back to life. Setsuna attempted to blow it out again, with no success. Every time she thought she had it, the candle would light back up.

Behind the hand that was covering her mouth, Haruka began snickering loudly, unable to keep a straight face. The time guardian rolled her eyes, finally realizing what was going on. Trust Haruka to try to fool her with a trick candle. Setsuna promptly plucked the innocent-looking blue candle from the cake and dunked it into Haruka's cup of coffee, a smirk on her face.

"Hey!" the trickster exclaimed, standing up to pour herself another cup. "That was MY coffee."

Michiru giggled. "Serves you right, Haruka. Didn't I tell you not to use that trick candle on Setsuna's cake?"

"Oh, you all have absolutely no sense of humor."

While Haruka started making a fresh pot of coffee, Michiru cut the cake, giving the biggest slice to little Hotaru. The raven-haired child immediately dug in, using her hands in lieu of a fork and making quite a mess. Chocolate quickly covered everything, including the little girl's clothes, but Setsuna took it all in stride, grabbing a napkin and attempting to clean her hands and face.

"You see, Hotaru-chan, that is why we use forks," she lightly scolded. "We don't want to make a mess."

"Sorry, Setsuna-mama," Hotaru apologized, reaching across the table with her still sticky hands and grabbing one of the presents, wrapped in shiny purple paper with an orange bow. "Open my present now!"

The time guardian graciously took the gift, smiling at the obvious amateur wrapping job, now covered with chocolate fingerprints. "Oo, it's pretty," Setsuna said. "Did you wrap this all by yourself?" The child beamed with pride, nodding her head.

"Yes, Hotaru-chan did everything all by herself," Michiru informed her. "She didn't ask for any help at all."

"Really?"

Setsuna unwrapped the gift, hugging her adopted daughter as she held up a picture frame decorated with tons of colorful buttons and sequins. The frame held one of Hotaru's drawings, depicting a group of four girls, playing together in the park. Two of the girls, one with yellow and one with green-blue hair, were holding hands, a big red heart flying above their heads. Another one with dark green hair was pushing a little girl in the swing. Setsuna's heart melted at Hotaru's portrait of their unusual family. "It's beautiful, Hotaru-chan. Thank you."

Next up was Haruka. The blonde handed Setsuna a plain blue gift bag, obviously too lazy to wrap it. She hadn't even bothered to use tissue paper.

"Nice wrapping job, Haruka," the birthday girl replied. "How long did it take you to finish?"

"I was busy, okay," Haruka said, defending herself. "Besides, don't judge a 'book' by it's cover. Just open it. I think you're going to like it."

"Okay, okay." She reached in the bag and pulled out a stack of hardback books by her favorite authors. "Haruka, I can't believe you remembered! These are

great. Thanks."

"See, I do listen sometimes."

"The key word is 'sometimes'," her lover teased. Michiru handed the lastgift to the guardian of time. "And this is from me. I hope you like it."

The present was rather large and exquisitely wrapped with silver paperand maroon ribbon, curled at the top into about ten thin spirals. A name tag,attached at the corner, was filled out with Michiru's neat handwriting. The musician must have spent a long time making it look just right. It was almost too pretty to unwrap. Nevertheless, Setsuna did, careful not to tear the paper too badly. When she was finished, she peeked inside the plain cardboard box, the smile she was wearing quickly disappearing at the sight of her gift. Out of all the gifts she could have gotten…

"Oh, it's a cuckoo clock," she exclaimed, trying to hide her disappointment. "Thanks, Michiru."

If there was one thing she hated most in the entire world, it was cuckoo clocks, which some might consider ironic since Setsuna was the guardian of time. She had despised them ever since their invention sometime in the 16th century. But she wasn't about to let Michiru know that. Instead, she plastered a phony smile on her face as she held it up for the rest of the family to see.

"It's not just any cuckoo clock," Michiru said, pointing to the tag hanging from the pendulum. "This was handmade in Switzerland by a master clockmaker. Every piece he makes is one-of-the-kind and very exclusive."

So not only was it ugly and annoying, the clock was expensive too.

Setsuna bit her tongue, not wanting to hurt her friend's feelings, no matter how much she hated it. "It's, uh, very nice, Michiru," she lied, putting the clock back in the box. "But you _really _shouldn't have…"

Thinking she was talking about the money, the senshi of the ocean shook her head. "It was nothing, Setsuna. I just wanted to get you a really great birthday present. I hope you like it."

The guardian of time wisely kept her mouth shut, glancing at the clock above the stove. It was already eight-thirty. When did it get so late? She was going to be late for work if she didn't hurry. Setsuna handed a chocolate covered Hotaru over to Haruka and stood up, drinking the rest of her coffee in one large giant gulp.

"Where are you going in such a rush?" Haruka asked. "You haven't even finished your breakfast."

Setsuna raised an eyebrow as she grabbed her car keys, which were sitting on the counter. "You call chocolate cake breakfast? I'll just get a donut on the way to the observatory. Besides, I'm going to be late. I'll see you all later."

"Later."

The mysterious time guardian slipped out the back door, but she doubted anybody noticed. Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru were all staring at Setsuna's forgotten slice of cake with hunger in their eyes.

Michiru looked over to her lover and adopted daughter, deciding that they should be reasonable about this and talk it over like mature adults. "So, who gets Setsuna's piece?"

"You can have it, Michiru," Haruka said. "After all, you were the one who made it."

"But I know how much you like chocolate cake. You can have it."

"I'm not hungry. You take it." Haruka pushed the cake toward her girlfriend, which Michiru immediately gave back.

"No, you. I'm on a diet."

"You don't need to diet, Michiru. You're perfect just the way you are. Sotake the cake."

"No, you take it, Haruka. I know you want it."

"No, I don't. Here."

"I said I don't want it. You take it."

They continued like that for the next couple of minutes, Hotaru watching the plate slide across the table with interest, licking her tiny pink lips. Finally, she just couldn't take it anymore. The little girl stood up in Haruka's lap and grabbed the cake with her hands, making an even bigger mess than before.

"MINE!"

Twin pairs of shocked eyes stared at their daughter. "Hotaru-chan!"

The child simply giggled and continued eating her cake. "You snooze, you lose."

* * *

Later that day, Setsuna arrived back at the house after work, finding the house strangely quiet. That was unusual. She smiled as she walked into the kitchen and read the note on the refrigerator door, informing her that Michiru was at a rehearsal and Haruka had taken Hotaru to the park to play. It looked like she had the entire house to herself, at least for a little while. What a wonderful birthday present!

Not that she didn't love being around her friends, because she did. It was just that after standing alone as the solitary guardian of time at the Gates of Time for so long, then suddenly becoming apart of an instant family, Setsuna found herself sometimes missing the peace and quiet. There was always _something _happening at the Tenoh/Kaioh/Meioh/Tomoe household, whether it was Michiru practicing on her violin, Haruka watching a race on the TV, or Hotaru generally acting her cute little self, making a mess out of everything. It was enough to drive anyone insane. Not to mention she could never get any work done.

"I might as well enjoy this while I can," the time guardian said to herself with a smile.

Humming the tune to the "Birthday Song" to herself, the green-haired woman opened the refrigerator and cut herself a large piece of her cake, surprised that there was actually still some left. She would have thought it would be long gone by now, what with Hotaru-the-Cake-Monster in the house. She then plopped a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream on top of the gooey chocolate, topping the whole thing off with some chocolate syrup, more sprinkles, a dollop of whipped cream, and of course, a large maraschino cherry. It was the perfect treat after a long day at the observatory.

After she took a small bite of her sinfully delicious snack, Setsuna browsed through the stack of books from Haruka, which were still sitting on the kitchen table, and selected one to read. It had been a long time since she got the chance to read a book without the chance of interruption and she could think of no better way to spend her quiet afternoon. "_The Time Machine_ by H.G. Wells," Setsuna said, reading the cover of the book she chose. "One of my personal favorites. I can't wait to read this again."

With her book and cake in hand, she climbed upstairs and entered her room, taking a seat on her neatly made bed. Setsuna couldn't help but feel a little naughty as she opened the book and took another bite of her cake. Michiru would be furious if she caught her eating in bed, but what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her. Besides, it was her birthday. There had to be a law somewhere that said the birthday girl couldn't get in trouble on her special day, no matter how "unspecial" the day really was.

"It is awfully quiet in here," Setsuna said after she finished the first chapter in her book, half-expecting Hotaru to come barging in her room, wanting her to play another game of Candy Land like she usually did. The time guardian sighed in happiness, fluffing one of her pillows to get more comfortable. "Silence is such a wonderful sound. Is there anything more wonderful?"

Well, besides cake, that is. Setsuna slowly licked her fork, savoring the last bit of the chocolate treat on her tongue and then, saving the best for last, popped the cherry in her mouth. She frowned once the last of the sweet juice trickled down her throat, disappointed that she already finished devouring the entire thing. Usagi was a bad influence on her. Setsuna considered going back downstairs to get some more, but instead sat the empty bowl on her nightstand and resumed her reading. The last thing she wanted for her birthday was ten extra pounds.

Silence, indeed, was a wonderful thing. Setsuna reveled in it, allowing herself to be caught up in the story she loved so much. It was so great to be able to just read without the threat of interruption…

_Tick, tock. Tick, tock._

Garnet eyes looked up from the page, wondering where that soft ticking noise was coming from. She never noticed it before. Was there a bomb somewhere hidden in her room?

The green-haired woman laughed. "Don't be ridiculous, Setsuna. Things like that only happen in the movies. It's probably nothing."

Still, that didn't help much. Setsuna tried to continue reading, but it was hopeless trying to concentrate on the words when she had no idea where that sound was coming from. She finally gave up, throwing the book down and jumping out of her bed to investigate.

First, she tried looking under her bed, finding nothing but some dirty clothes and the CD she accused Haruka of borrowing and never giving back. (Note to self - Apologize to Haruka.) Next was her closet, but no luck there. She then tried her dresser drawers, roughly slamming them shut when it was obvious that the source of the noise was not in there. "What is making that racket?" she asked aloud, getting frustrated.

Setsuna finally looked over at the wall on the other side of the room, wanting to laugh at herself for being so paranoid. The clock! It was coming from that ugly cuckoo clock Michiru gave her for her birthday. Either Michiru or Haruka must have brought it up to her room while she was at the observatory and hung it on the wall. "I'm so silly…"

Now that she knew where the ticking was coming from, Setsuna was sure she'd be able to get back to her reading. After all, it was just a little noise.

Jumping back on the bed, she grabbed her book and smiled. Now, where was she…?

_Tick, tock. Tick, tock. _

But did it have to be so loud? It seemed as if the volume was amplifying with every second passed, pounding on her head like a drummer on his instrument. Setsuna even felt the beginnings of a twitch near her left eye, keeping perfect time with the beat.

Slamming her book shut when it was obvious that she was not going to get any reading done, the guardian of time glared at the offending present, her

garnet eyes burning with annoyance. "Will you shut the heck up?" she yelled, well aware how idiotic she must sound, shouting at a silly cuckoo clock. "Some people are trying to read in here!"

Much to her surprise, the room suddenly went silent, the only sound coming from her own angered breathing. 'Now that is more like it,' Setsuna thought with a smirk. She opened her book back to where she left off and snuggled under her favorite quilt, hoping there would be no more interruptions.

"Cuckoo! Cuckoo!"

Spoke too soon. The time guardian involuntarily jumped, her heart pounding against her chest. What in the world was that? Setsuna immediately glanced over to the clock, her blood-red eyes narrowing at the sight of a brightly painted yellow bird popping out of its little door, announcing the start of a new hour. She knew there was a reason she hated cuckoo clocks so much. It was that stupid, annoying, irritating tweety bird! Hour after hour after hour, there it was, singing its dumb little song and it _never _stopped. Never! How could people live like this? Setsuna growled, feeling the rage building in her blood.

"Cuckoo? You want to see cuckoo?" she asked, holding up her book like a football. "I'll show you cuckoo, you pest!"

Without a single thought, Setsuna threw the novel toward the clock with all her strength, hoping that it would be enough to knock the entire thing from its perch on the wall. No such luck, although the bird did stay inside its house. It probably figured it was safer than having to deal with an irate guardian of time.

Satisfied that she had scared the bird straight, Setsuna walked over to the wall to retrieve her book and plopped down on her bed, determined to get through this chapter before the others came home. She gave the clock the evil eye, silently daring it to mess with her again, before she continued reading.

Things were going well, until…

_Tick, tock. Tick, tock._

That was it! Tossing the now battered copy of _The Time Machine_ on her nightstand, the green-haired woman stomped over to the wall and took the clock in her hands, the look of pure madness reflected in her garnet eyes. She hated to do this to the gift Michiru obviously put a lot of thought into, but she really had no other choice. Using all her strength, Setsuna smashed the clock on the floor, smiling at the sight of the yellow bird popping out from the wreckage to let out one last weak "Cuckoo".

"Oops!" she exclaimed, covering her mouth as if she was in shock. "Sorry, Michiru. It just sort of fell out of my hands when I was trying to move it to the other wall. It _was _awful heavy."

Setsuna giggled, glad to finally be free from the annoyance that used to be an expensive, Swiss-made cuckoo clock. It was gone. It was finally gone! This deserved a reward. Giving the rubble one final kick, the birthday girl went downstairs to get herself another piece of cake, returning a few minutes later to the sound of-

_Tick, tock. Tick, tock._

The plate in her hand crashed to the floor, chocolate and glass covering the soft white carpet. Michiru was not going to be happy about that, but the oceanic beauty's wrath was the least of Setsuna's worries at the moment.

She broke it. She had smashed it to the ground and watched the wood break into dozens of small pieces, the thousands of inner workings littering the floor. She had heard the yellow bird's swan song. How could it _still _be ticking? It simply was not possible!

Desperate times called for desperate measures. Reaching into her pocket, Setsuna's hands wrapped around the familiar form of her henshin stick, which she still carried everywhere as a force of habit. Normally, she would be the last one to use her powers for selfish means, but that clock had to be an evil pawn in a new enemy's plan. It had to be! Right?

Right?

Oh, heck. Why was she trying to justify her actions? She just hated that clock. Pure and simple.

PLUTO PLANET POWER!

In a blast of bright light, the ever calm and composed figure of Sailor Pluto appeared, the Garnet Orb on top of her key-shaped staff glowing as she gathered her power. With a whispered battle cry, a sphere of violet energy flew toward the debris and destroyed the clock, the only remains being a pile of golden sand.

"Don't mess with the guardian of time on her birthday," she deadpanned, watching the sand disappear.

With a smile, Sailor Pluto sighed and detransformed just as she heard the sound of footsteps running up the stairway. "Setsuna!" Haruka exclaimed, still wearing her shoes and carrying Hotaru in her arms. Michiru arrived just seconds later. They had obviously just got in. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Turning around, Setsuna shrugged her shoulders, using her body to block the doorway so they couldn't see inside. "What are you talking about, Haruka?" she asked innocently. "Nothing happened. You must be hearing things."

"All three of us?"

Setsuna laughed nervously. "It could happen…"

Rolling her blue-green eyes, the blonde moved the time guardian out of the way and walked inside her bedroom to investigate, Michiru right behind her. The senshi of the ocean groaned as she accidentally stepped on the mess in the carpet. "Please tell me that was chocolate cake, Setsuna," she said, closing her eyes in fear of looking down at her slipper-covered foot.

"It was. I dropped the plate trying to close the door. That must have been the noise you all heard. See? It was nothing."

The senshi of the wind pressed her lips together, obviously not buying Setsuna's story. Haruka set Hotaru down on the floor and looked around the room, her arms crossed over her chest. "It was too loud to be a plate breaking on carpet," she stated. "You, with the degree in physics, should know that. The sound we heard was a loud boom, as if a large amount of energy was being emitted."

Little Hotaru nodded, agreeing with the blonde. "It went BOOM!" she shouted gleefully, spreading out her arms to illustrate her point. "Just like this, Setsuna-mama."

"I still say you're all hearing things. I'm telling you, nothing happened."

A soft gasp escaped from Michiru's pink lips. "Setsuna, where's yourclock?"

"The clock?" Setsuna rubbed the back of her neck, trying to decide how to explain the clock's sudden disappearance from her wall. "Isn't it still down in the kitchen?"

"No, I told Haruka to bring it up to your room and hang it on the wall while you were at work. You did do as I asked you to do, Haruka, didn't you?" The aqua-haired woman gave her lover a burning look.

"Of course I did," Haruka quickly replied, turning to face the wall. She pointed at the hook that still hung. "I put it right there-" She paused, rubbing her chin in thought. "At least I thought I did. Where did it go? It was right there."

The guardian of time hid a tiny smile. She didn't want to get her friend in trouble, but she also didn't want to tell Michiru the truth about really happened to her birthday present. There was only one choice. Haruka could handle it.

"The clock wasn't in here when I came home," Setsuna lied. "Are you sure you hung it up, Haruka?"

"Yes, I am!" she said, pointing to the hook once again. "I'm telling you, it was right there. I promise!"

Michiru sighed. "Haruka, stop playing games. You're as bad as Hotaru. Just tell us where you put the clock."

"I put it right there, Michiru!"

"Are you calling Setsuna a liar, and on her birthday, too?" Michiru asked, not looking very happy at the moment. She clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. "Haruka, you know better than that. Setsuna wouldn't lie."

The tall blonde groaned, banging her head against the wall. Setsuna felt bad for the girl, but not enough to confess. "I'm telling you the truth. Why won't you believe me? It must have disappeared or something. Maybe someone broke in the house after we all left and stole it."

"Fine, I give up," the musician said, throwing her hands up in defeat. "I suppose I'll just order Setsuna another clock since it seems to somehow have mysteriously 'disappeared'."

"NO!"

The three other members of their strange little family turned toward the beautiful guardian of time, surprised by her outburst. Setsuna could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks as she tried desperately to think of an explanation.

"Uh, what I meant was…uh, well, you spent so much on the first clock and it was one-of-a-kind…I don't want you to go through all that trouble just for me…"

Michiru shrugged. "If that's the way you feel, Setsuna. But to make it up to you, I'm going to make your favorite dinner."

"No, that's okay. Really."

"I insist."

Not taking no for an answer, Michiru grabbed Setsuna's wrist and dragged her to the kitchen, Hotaru toddling right behind. Only Haruka remained in the time guardian's bedroom, still staring at the wall. She _did _hang the clock on the wall, didn't she?

Didn't she?

"I must be going senile," she said to herself, shaking her head before heading downstairs.

* * *

After her delicious birthday dinner, Setsuna went back up to her room, claiming to the others that she didn't feel very well, which was the truth. Her stomach felt all knotted inside with guilt about her lie. She hadn't even been able to finish her plate, knowing that the only reason Michiru fixed the wonderful meal was to make up for the clock she thought Haruka lost. It just didn't feel right.

"What's done is done, Setsuna," she told herself as she pulled on a lacy black nightgown. "Besides, what was I supposed to say? Something like 'Hey, Michiru, I hated my birthday present so I blasted it with a Dead Scream'? She would have been devastated."

Sighing, she climbed into bed and closed her beautiful garnet eyes, trying to go to sleep. She would feel better in the morning. By that time, she was sure everybody would have already forgotten what had happened…

In a place between time and space, Setsuna looked out at the mist, dressed in the fuku of her alter ego, Sailor Pluto. She furrowed her brow, wondering why she was suddenly back at the Gates of Time. She didn't remember teleporting here. Was the timeline in trouble?

'No, that isn't it,' she thought with a relieved sigh. Everything appeared to be running smoothly. So, why was she here? Setsuna looked down at her hand, expecting to find her Garnet Rod. Instead, she was holding a book, _The Time __Machine _by H.G. Wells.

"Strange…" she said, her voice echoing through the misty realm. "But as long as I'm here, I might as well get some more reading done."

She took a seat in her favorite burgundy armchair (even time guardians needed somewhere to sit every once in a while) by the gates and turned to where she left off earlier that day.

_Tick, tock. Tick, tock._

Garnet eyes looked up from her page, wondering where that ticking was coming from. There were no clocks at the Gates of Time. Setsuna set down her book and stood up, straining to see through the heavy mist. A key-shaped staff magically appeared in her hands.

"Who dares to disturb my peace?" she asked, gripping the Garnet Rod tightly in preparation for an attack.

_Tick, tock. Tick, tock._

The ticking was growing louder as she wandered through the fog, having no idea where she was going. Setsuna followed the sounds, eventually arriving in a place she never saw before, on the far side of the Realm of Time-Space.

Clocks. There where hundreds and hundreds of clocks, flying aimlessly around her. She saw alarm clocks, grandfather clocks, cuckoo clocks… Every kind of clock imaginable. One of the clocks even looked similar to the one she destroyed. Was this some kind of clock heaven?

Setsuna grabbed an Eternal Sailor Moon alarm clock from the air, surprised to find that it was running backwards. How strange. She let it go, then walked over to where the familiar-looking cuckoo clock was floating, amazed to see that it really was the one Michiru had given her for her birthday. She would recognize that ugly thing anywhere.

As she was examining the clock, trying to figure out how somebody managed to put it back together, the hour struck midnight. Setsuna jumped as the yellow bird popped out of its door to sing its little song.

_Liar! Liar!_

"What?" she exclaimed, letting go of the clock.

_Liar! Liar!_

_Liar! Liar!_

_Liar! Liar!_

What was happening? All the cuckoo clocks were calling her a liar. Everywhere she went: _Liar! Liar!_ There was no way out. Setsuna covered her ears, trying to drown out the horrible sound. "Please stop!" she cried, falling to her knees. "Please, please stop! Make it stop! I'll tell Michiru the truth, just make it stop…"

STOP!

With a start, Setsuna sat up in her own bed, her body covered with sweat. Her heartbeat calmed down as she realized it was all a dream. A horrible, horrible nightmare.

'That is it,' she decided as she got out of bed and slipped on a robe and slippers. She was going to tell Michiru the truth about what really happened, no matter how angry she might get. The guilt was driving her crazy.

Setsuna quietly shuffled over to Haruka's and Michiru's bedroom down the hall, not wanting to wake Hotaru up, and raised her hand to knock on the door. However, the sound of moans and heavy breathing coming from the room made her pause. It sounded like Michiru had finally forgiven Haruka for 'losing' the clock. Setsuna stifled a giggle before tiptoeing back to her bedroom.

"Maybe now's not the time. I'll tell them tomorrow..."

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is the property of Takeuchi Naoko.

This was written in honor of Setsuna's birthday, October 29th. Happy Birthday, Setsuna!

Dedicated in memory of my Eternal Sailor Moon alarm clock, which really does run backwards. May it rest in eternal peace in Clock Heaven.


End file.
